Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a penalty charge notice issued by the Council. The Council has cancelled the notice and refunded Mr X’s car parking charge and this provides a suitable remedy for Mr X’s injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about a penalty charge notice (PCN) issued by the Council. The Council has cancelled the PCN but Mr X believes it should pay him compensation for his time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint, shared my draft decision with him and invited his comments.

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What I found

4. The Council issued Mr X a PCN for a parking contravention in February 2019.
5. There is a set procedure councils must follow when pursuing PCNs for parking contraventions and handling appeals against them. When a council issues a PCN the motorist has 28 days to pay the penalty charge or appeal; appeals at this stage are known as ‘informal challenges’.
6. If the motorist submits an informal challenge to a PCN and the Council decides not to accept them, it will write to the motorist and explain why. If the motorist accepts the Council’s reasons they may pay the PCN; if not, they may wait for a ‘notice to owner’. This provides a further opportunity for the owner of the vehicle to pay the charge or make ‘formal representations’ against the PCN. If the council rejects the motorist’s formal representations the motorist may appeal to London Tribunals.
7. Mr X informally challenged the PCN and after almost two months the Council cancelled it. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s cancellation of the PCN so he emailed the Council asking for compensation. The Council agreed to refund Mr X’s car parking charge for the day but Mr X believes he is entitled to more.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. By law all PCNs carry a right of appeal and unless there are good reasons we would expect a motorist to use this to challenge any PCN they believe was wrongly issued. There is no right in law to compensation for a PCN issued in error and we will not normally recommend a remedy for a motorist’s time and trouble in pursuing an appeal unless there is fault by the issuing authority in its handling of it.
9. In this case Mr X believes the Council was wrong to issue the PCN and complains it took too long to cancel it. But the Council cancelled the PCN in response to Mr X’s informal challenge and did not escalate the process to the next stage. I have seen nothing to suggest Mr X has suffered significant injustice above and beyond that normally required to challenge a PCN through the statutory process and the cancellation of the PCN and agreement to refund his car parking charge therefore provides a suitable remedy for his complaint.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has provided a suitable remedy and it is unlikely we would recommend anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman